Meghan Daum

Semi-public quasi-intellectual. Author of THE CATASTROPHE HOUR and many other books. Host @TheUnspeakPod. Founder @TheUnspeakeasy. Opinions might be your own.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

Twitter: where personality disorders become careers.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

Congratulations to this year's MacArthur Fellows! In your honor, I repost my 2007 column about geniuses everywhere.
https://t.co/s8ID4ETWM9

[MacArthur Foundation @macfound]

Meet the 2026 MacArthur Fellows!

These 20 individuals explore the depths of our humanity, reveal untold origins to modern challenges, and expand the edges of scientific inquiry and life-saving research. #MacFellow

https://t.co/huYw2h4Jt9

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@LivesDirk I'll run some numbers. But you'd need to bring the New Yorker, sadly.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

Thinking of starting an OnlyFans where people pay me to share unpopular opinions that I'm not dumb enough to express publicly. For a little extra money, I'd show my feet, too.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@thecoreyhotline Not really. I'm worse than you can imagine.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

I love to entertain. And what's funny is that, as a single person, I often find myself hosting a bunch of couples. I'll be the odd man out at my own party. But I didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to me.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

New newsletter: THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN HOST

The share of Americans who say they host friends or family at their home at least monthly has declined by 70 percent in the last 50 years.

https://t.co/pfubF2qz1v

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@annbauerwriter @noisycontrarian @nytimes Fair enough!

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@annbauerwriter @noisycontrarian @nytimes LOL. I can imagine. But I don't think writing a speculative novel about Laura Bush amounts to proclaiming love for her.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@BovyMaltz Appreciate this very much. And not just because he looks a little like a cleaned-up Sam Shepard.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@VanMottola I believe the overlap is massive. I also believe we have a great country. The algorithm just doesn't favor saying so.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

This kind of thing is Libs of TikTok for the right. It will erode the Republican Party just as woke nonsense eroded the Democrats. I'm totally here for it.

[Right Wing Watch @RightWingWatch]

If you think women should be able to vote, have jobs, live alone, or have unsupervised access to one another, that is because "you have normalcy bias for insane world": "You're living in an insane asylum and you think it's the normal world." https://t.co/MUg0khVoy6

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@asymmetricinfo The circle of fifths at 1:13 is the giveaway. Generic and almost too modern. Unworthy of Bach. I like the beginning, though.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@amandafortini Do you argue with them in private? Or do you pretend you didn't see it?

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@Hermes4Megistus Yeah, but the worst freaks you see on Libs of TikTok are leftist losers with mental health problems. Nutpicking works in both directions.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

😂

[This American Life @ThisAmerLife]

Some NPR podcasts started getting mysterious comments on Spotify. They made no sense to the staff reading them – until someone from a younger generation cracked the code.

Hear the story: https://t.co/0gLhP4L8rL

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@BolaHomerica Neither has he. He's trolling for clicks.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

I like that idea! But for domestic cats, this seems laden with negative downstream effects, namely, more homeless cats. Owners will die, leaving their cats behind. And people won’t adopt as many new cats if they still have their old ones.
But don't listen to me. I'm a dog person.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@ggreenwald I'm looking forward to seeing this. But the music is doing a LOT of work here. Might have to rewatch it with closed captions and the sound off.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

I know this because I nearly died from typhus in 2011. Rats carry fleas and fleas get on dogs and cats and then humans.
Along with being abused, "pets" in homeless encampments are spreading disease.
https://t.co/rjsheMxMGH

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

You know what exacerbates the spread of typhus in homeless encampments? Keeping dogs and cats in them. They transmit fleas from rats to humans. There should be no animals living with street addicts. Period.

[Matthew Seedorff @MattSeedorff]

NEW: A flea-borne typhus outbreak is under investigation in L.A.’s Wilshire Center after 7 people got sick and 6 were hospitalized.

The disease, historically associated with earlier eras of poor sanitation, is re-emerging in L.A. County.

Health officials say fleas are the key exposure.

[Meghan Daum @meghan_daum]

@MeghanMcCain And it's yet another reason that dogs and cats should not be in homeless encampments. In addition to being abused, they're exacerbating the spread of typhus. (I almost died from typhus years ago -- believe me, I know.)